1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to home theater systems and more particularly home theater systems with wireless audio and video capabilities.
2. Related Art
The popularity of liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions has increased over the last few years, partially due to the improved picture quality and the ability to mount the LCD televisions on walls. But, as with any television, there are numerous connections to audio/video components and content providers that typically require wired connections. These wires limit the placement of the audio/video components to within a few feet of the television and make for an unsightly mess of wires.
Newer televisions have been made with HDMI connectors and have associated copy protection provided by the HDMI standards. In order to get the highest quality digital picture from a device such as a Blue-ray disc, HDMI connections must be made between the television and all of the components. This results in HDMI cables being required from the audio/video component to the television. Thus, if the television is mounted on the wall there are only two approaches for cabling the television. The first approach is running a HDMI cable up the wall and results in an unsightly cable being visible. The other approach is running the HDMI cable in the wall. This requires changing the structure of the house and often requires a carpenter or electrician to actually do the work.
A problem exists relative to wire placement and the necessity of locating the audio/video components in relative close proximity to the television. Attempts to resolve the problem have included in-wall wiring approaches, such as A-bus and other wired Ethernet cabling system approaches or 900 Mhz wireless analog speaker and video approaches. All of these approaches fail to solve all of the cabling problems and maintain the encrypted HDMI signal that has the superior picture quality.
Therefore, there is a need for providing a wireless theater system in which HDMI signals are maintained while allowing audio/video components to be placed anywhere in a room while reducing the cabling connecting to a television or other display.